Panagiotis Lafazanis, the Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Energy and the Environment has released a statement in response to the march on Athens by thousands of workers of the Skouries gold-mine who are protesting a decision by the ministry to recall permits allowing for the expansion of the mine.
In the statement the Minister slams the company behind the mine – the Canadian company Eldorado Gold – for instigating the protest, accusing the company of using underhanded tactics to conceal its own flouting of the law.
Effectively the statement implies the workers participating in the protest have been duped, arguing that it wasn’t the government that was placing the jobs of the workers at risk but the company itself.
Eldorado Gold has been accused by critics of securing environmental permits on the basis of deficient studies that grossly underestimate the true environmental cost of the planned activities. Two such permits for the expansion of the facilities of the mine have been recalled by the ministry in a decision that was strongly criticized by the company.
Skouries offers a key test case for the SYRIZA – and particularly for Lafazanis, who is conflicted between supporting workers and combating what he sees as abuses on the part of large companies operating above the law.
When in opposition, SYRIZA officials such as Lafazanis and his fellow ministers frequently supported protests by unions and workers against the government over austerity and structural reforms.
Now finding itself the target of a worker-led protest, the administration is seeking to convince the protesters that SYRIZA remains their true ally and that the real villains are elsewhere.
The full statement, (translation by TheTOC):
“The workers have every right to protest. We defend with all of our strength the right of the workers to protest, even if it is turned unfairly against our government. We fully respect the concerns of the workers about their jobs. We assure them, however, that no worker is in danger of losing their job.
On the contrary, their jobs are threatened by the multinational Eldorado Gold which opportunistically pretends to be their benefactor, purely to use them as a ‘shield’ and as soon as it secures its profiteering objectives it will kick out a large portion of those working today. We are not litigating against the workers and our legal actions concern only the infringements of the company.
While we respect the protest of the workers, we do not accept the reprehensible tactics of the multinational Eldorado Gold and its domestic supporters who are using the workers and their concerns to cover up illegalities and illicit and environmentally damaging practices which threaten Halkidiki and its citizens.
We want to stress that Eldorado Gold is not a state within a state and cannot use the workers and their concerns as a ‘shield’ in order to seek ‘asylum’ - in order to seek to remain above the law and in order to cover up infringements and destructive choices.
Eldorado Gold must realize that beautiful Halkidiki is not its property, it is not all powerful in the country, nor Halkidiki a ‘lab rat’ of environmental destruction for its profits.
Eldorado Gold and its domestic mouthpieces must realize that they cannot blackmail the country nor the government. The government will never accept the use of such tactics in the country. Greece is a sovereign country and not a neo-colony of multinational corporations.
It is impressive that the mainstream media which usually ‘bury’ all labour demonstrations are highlighting the demonstrations of the Skouries workers solely to serve the illegalities and the unacceptable role which Eldorado Gold has taken on.
The government has submitted a program of visits by the competent Ministers to Halkidiki and Skouries, as well as a timetable for the submission of more specialized proposals for the mines in the region.
Eldorado Gold, however, and its mouthpieces chooses tactics of instigating protests and blackmail.
These tactics will not succeed. The government will defend to the end the protection of the environment and the public interest against the special interests regardless of how powerful and deeply rooted they are.
We call on the workers to mobilize for these demands and reject the manipulations of Eldorado Gold which is seeking to exploit them to serve its purposes.”
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